| Lone Pine, California doesn't look like much at first. | | | | Mount Whitney. At 14,496 feet, it is the highest |
| It's a dusty desert town of a few thousand, on | | | | mountain in the lower 48 states. Whitney Portal |
| highway 395, on the eastern side of the Sierra | | | | Road starts in the center of town, and takes you |
| Nevadas. There might still be only one traffic light. | | | | 20 miles up to the trailhead and campground. The |
| So what makes it a great vacation | | | | Whitney Portal Trail goes to the top. It's a |
| destination?The Lone Pine Film FestivalHere are | | | | strenuous hike, and the 22-mile round trip is best |
| some of the movies filmed in this part of | | | | broken into two or three days, with a night or |
| California: Gunga Din, How The West Was Won, | | | | two spent in the beautiful high country. By the |
| Star Trek, Tremors, Springfield Rifle, Joshua Tree, | | | | way, you'll find snow up there most of the |
| Gladiator, and Maverick. John Wayne, Gene Autry, | | | | year.The National Forest Service has designated |
| Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, | | | | much of the Inyo National Forest and Sequoia |
| William Boyd, and dozens of other movie stars | | | | National Park around the mountain as "The |
| have all spent time in Lone Pine. Television series | | | | Whitney Zone." To hike within this area you need |
| filmed here include The Lone Ranger, Have A | | | | a permit, which can be obtained from the |
| Gun, Bonanza, and Wagon Train. Spend much time | | | | inter-agency visitors center on Highway 395, just |
| in Lone Pine, and later, when you're watching | | | | south of Lone Pine. Plan ahead, as permits are |
| movies at home, you'll find yourself saying "Hey | | | | limited, and a seperate summit stamp may be |
| I've been there."More than 200 movies, and | | | | required now to go to the peak of Whitney.There |
| numerous television series have been filmed in and | | | | is a campground behind downtown - to the west, |
| around the area. The Lone Pine Film Festival, | | | | and several nice motels in Lone Pine. The visitor's |
| which is held in early October every year, | | | | center south of town has a lot of information on |
| features the classics, as well as more recent films. | | | | activities and sights in the area. The reservoir |
| If you watch many movies, you can see familiar | | | | south of town is good for fishing and swimming. |
| movie scenery any time of the year.The Alabama | | | | The Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone |
| HillsDrive a few minutes south of Lone Pine, turn | | | | Pine Film History will open soon. Actors have gun |
| west, and you'll find the Alabama Hills, one of the | | | | battles in the local bar just to entertain you (no |
| most unique geological areas you'll ever see. | | | | charge).My wife and I love Lone Pine. Where else |
| Rounded and smooth rocks are piled up in the | | | | in California, or anywhere else, can you - all in one |
| most amazing formations. You may recognize | | | | day - go swimming, watch a gunfight, explore |
| some of the scenery from old westerns. On the | | | | caves and rock formations in the desert, then |
| south side of town, at the visitors center, you | | | | drive up the mountain for a snowball fight?Steve |
| can get free maps that will guide you to rock | | | | Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the |
| arches, caves and other sights. You'll have to walk | | | | U.S. and Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels |
| into mazes of rocks to get to the better | | | | with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. |
| ones.Mount WhitneyLone Pine is the gateway to | | | | |